Like its weekday counterpart, “NBC Nightly News” leads the competition in both Total Viewers and A25-54 viewers on the weekends. But “ABC World News” is closing the gap: in the second quarter of 2013, the two shows were separated by the smallest Total Viewer margin in 10 years on Saturdays and the smallest in 11 years on Sundays.
“World News,” anchored on the weekends by David Muir, grew in both ratings measurements compared to the year-ago quarter, up +7% in Total Viewers and +1% in the A25-54 demographic. “CBS Evening News,” anchored by Jim Axelrod, was up +3% in Total Viewers but down -10% in the demo, while “NBC Nightly News,” anchored by Lester Holt, was down -3% and -5%, respectively. “World News” delivered its smallest quarterly margins in 10 years in Total Viewers and in four years in the A25-54 demographic.
On Sundays, ABC is again the only show to be up in both ratings measurements, +6% in Total Viewers and +7% in the demo, compared to the year-ago quarter. NBC is up +1% and down -6%, while CBS is down -5% and -15%, respectively.
The Saturday averages for Q2 2013:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 4,253,000 | 4,128,000 | 3,245,000 |
| • A25-54: | 974,000 | 875,000 | 684,000 |
The Sunday averages for Q2 2013:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 5,074,000 | 4,782,000 | 3,921,000 |
| • A25-54: | 1,311,000 | 1,309,000 | 884,000 |